Nippon no Baindo!

Well, it's official. After getting my college degree, I want to move to Japan. Or so I think so far, because I've got to actually visit the country and check out if I can deal with a completely different lifestyle and language before making that monumental of a decision. But I think I can do it because of two strong reasons that I think can outweigh the cons I'm going to face: I love the culture, and I feel a definite call towards these people. For as long as  forever I've always been fascinated by Japan, including it's people, geography, art, food, music, style, and language. To me it's all very beautiful and and such a 180 from my own western world that it will never ceases to amaze me. Though I've only scratched the surface of what this land is really like, meaning that wikipedia, pictures,  and book-research of this land barely cover anything, I still feel like it could be a place I could be happy and comfortable in. My deep adoration for this country, however, is just a bonus, as I also feel a spiritual and Godly call toward Japan' s people. When I went to CIY this summer, I was able to talk to this missionary who had actually gone to Tokyo on a mission trip, commenting on how materialistic and worldly these citizens are. By just walking around the giant city he could feel an evil aura enrapturing him, giving him a great sense of evil consuming this land. His most prominent memory was a trip to the train/subway station as he observed multiple mirrors covering most of the wall's surface near the railroad. When he asked a present Japanese man why they hung all these mirrors here, the man explained how many people came here to commit suicide by jumping in front of ongoing trains. To try to prevent these deaths, the mirrors forced anyone wanting to do this to look themselves in the eye and ask themselves one more time if it was worth it. When  heard this, I was appalled at how many of these Japanese people could find so little joy and worth in their life as to believe that it is worth nothing. For me, I want to not just shake my head in sympathy for these people, but actually go there and try to be a light to these people, no matter how small my light may be in such a harsh and worldly culture. Guess I'll start by raising money to study abroad.

new year, new blog :)

So you know what I think was the highlight of my summer? Believe it or not it actually kind of beat not havng any school, going on trips, and making some good money working at a sumemr job combined. This summer it was going to a CIY (Christ in Youth) convention in Tennesee called, "Move," and to put it simply....it was awesome!!!! I can actually say that I have never felt that closer to God in years, if ever really, than I did there. This convention was composed of youth ministries from around the country and staying in the dormsof Lee University, some from places like Texas, Florida, and even Illinois. But even though we were all from different places and backgrounds it was really cool how we were all able to get together and have a geat time playing games, having devotions, and singing praises in an auditorium til our lungs gave out. That was probably one of the best parts too, because we had this awesome band play songs very morning and night an sometimes they would teach us fun and corny dances to dance to while singing! it was great, and differnet everyday. It was also really cool to listen to the different youth speakers who had a different devotion every night that he would address to the crowd. Each one of them made you want to pour out your soul to Christ they were so moving. At the end of the week I sort of didn't want to go home because the whole week was so fun and Godly! I was also scared that once I got home everything would just go back to routine since I didn't have my youth group to encourage me in my faith. But luckliy I've now joined this group so I can be reminded of the times at CIY and to not lose Christianly endurance (God-willing that it is :)